War Economic Enabling Act

The law of July 24, 1917, with which the government is empowered to make the necessary dispositions in the economic field on the occasion of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the state of war (usually called War Economic Authorization Act or KWEG by historians and lawyers ) was an old Austrian law, which was enacted during the First World War and abused in the years 1932 to 1934 by the Christian social government under Federal Chancellor Dollfuss to establish the dictatorship known as Austrofascism.

1917: KWEG for Cisleithanien

With the law of July 24, 1917, the Imperial and Royal Government of the Kaiser and Reichsrat , the parliament of the Austrian half of the Empire , was empowered to issue the necessary decrees for the functioning of the economy and the supply of the population and to change laws in the process.

Emperor Franz Joseph I had already fixed the freedom contained in this law for economic government decrees at the suggestion of Imperial and Royal Prime Minister Karl Graf Stürgkh in an imperial ordinance of October 10, 1914, since the Reichsrat was adjourned at that time. The imperial decree was z. B. Basis for the law-changing creation of the Office for People's Nutrition in November / December 1916 , which received powers from several ministries and was authorized to issue ordinances like a departmental ministry during the war.

Emperor Karl I convened the Reichsrat in spring 1917 for the first time since spring 1914 and wanted to ensure the democratic legitimation of government action by enacting a parliamentary law instead of the imperial ordinance of 1914.

1918/1919: KWEG as the basis for enforcement instructions

On October 30, 1918, the state of German Austria was constituted and declared a republic on November 12. The Provisional (until February 1919) or the Constituent National Assembly (from March 1919) as parliament and the state government (a coalition of the major parties, led by State Chancellor Karl Renner ) were, from a legal point of view, partly revolutionary (i.e. without legitimation by the bis then existing legal system), partly evolutionary (ie based on existing old Austrian laws). Government ordinances ( called enforcement instructions) often cited the law of July 24, 1917 as the legal basis. Since the National Assembly passed laws in the same period, it is unclear why in these cases a government ordinance with reference to an Imperial and Royal Act was preferred to a new legislative resolution. (At that time, however, there was no danger of simply “dubbing” important parties, since a “grand coalition” was ruling.)

It is noteworthy that the State Chancellery, headed by Karl Renner, regularly reported to the Constituent National Assembly on enforcement instructions that had been issued on the basis of the KWEG. In the report of March 5, 1919, it was pointed out that it would be reimbursed by applying the cited legal provision (of the KWEG) (which referred to the Reichsrat). Why this practice was not maintained in later legislative periods is unclear.

1920: KWEG adopted by the Republic in a dangerously simplified manner

The KWEG must have seemed useful to the politicians of the time, at least it was incorporated into the definitive republican constitutional structure. The continued validity of the KWEG was confirmed in Section 7 (2) of the Constitutional Act of October 1, 1920 (Constitutional Transitional Act 1920, or VÜG 1920 for short). From a later point of view, this was a serious political mistake, since the law - in contrast to other, republican enabling laws - did not provide for the automatic expiry of regulations after a short time and the parliamentary control process contained in the Imperial and Royal Act (and thus after the end of the " grand coalition "an important right of opposition) was explicitly not adopted:

According to the law of July 24, 1917, RGBl. No. 307, with which the government is empowered to make the necessary decisions in the economic field on the occasion of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the state of war; the powers due to the government are transferred to both the federal government and the individual federal ministers.

The KWEG 1917 provided for the periodic submission of the emergency ordinances to the Reichsrat; it was analogous to the Constituent National Assembly (1919–1920). Kelsen / Fröhlich / Merkl now denied the continued validity of the obligation to submit a submission to the National Council (and the obligation to obtain subsequent approval), since it was not named as the legal successor of the Reichsrat in the cited provision. This led to a dangerous simplification which the government in the years 1932 to 1934 on the way to the corporate state dictatorship should be very accommodating.

The authorization of the government to change ordinances under the KWEG was the exception to be emphasized from the B-VG system and therefore required its own constitutional regulation, which was implemented by the VÜG 1920.

Situation in Germany

In Germany, too, there was an enabling law during the war . Similarly, the National Assembly in 1919/1920, and then the Reichstag, partially transferred the right to the government to issue statutory ordinances. Such authorizations were limited in time and subject. In itself, the constitution did not provide for authorization, but the constitutional experts at the time considered the procedure to be permissible: enabling laws were passed with the same majority (two thirds) that would have been necessary for a constitutional amendment.

On March 21, 1933, Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler had the Reichstag pass an enabling law that differed greatly from its predecessors. Now the government should also be able to pass unconstitutional laws without the signature of the Reich President. It was limited to four years or until the current government was replaced. This Enabling Act could at most refer to a constitutional practice of the republic, but not to a corresponding passage in the constitution.

From 1932: application by the Dollfuss government

The Federal Government of Dollfuss I , in office since May 1932 , first applied the law of July 24, 1917 on October 1, 1932. Justice Minister Kurt Schuschnigg , with reference to the law, in agreement with Finance Minister Emanuel Weidenhoffer, issued a regulation on the liability of those responsible for the collapse of Creditanstalt .

Dollfuss campaigned in the press for this short path of decisions by his government:

The government (...) continues step by step on its marked path (...). The fact that it is possible for the government to immediately implement certain urgent measures, even without previous endless parliamentary struggles, will make a major contribution to the recovery of our democracy.

The opposition Social Democrats now opposed the application of the War Economics Enabling Act. In Parliament, on October 20, 1932, the Social Democratic MP Karl Seitz addressed the government in an urgent question regarding the application of the War-Economics Enabling Act with regard to the appointment of Major Emil Fey as State Secretary and the ban on assembly in Vienna. As mayor of Vienna, Seitz refused to implement the regulations of the Dollfuss / Schuschnigg government because he considered them to be illegal.

1933/1934: With the KWEG into dictatorship

After the so-called self - elimination of parliament by the Dollfuss government in March 1933 (in reality the government had prevented the National Council from meeting again on March 15; the session was opened and immediately closed again on the instructions of the police) the government made use of the law of July 24, 1917 as the formal legal basis of all emergency ordinances with which the dictatorial corporate state was established. Finally, the set into force on 1 May 1934 was authoritarian May Constitution adopted on the basis of KWEG.

1946: Law of July 24, 1917 repealed

After the Second World War , the War Economic Enabling Act was repealed by the Federal Constitutional Act of July 25, 1946.

Later in Austria it was occasionally claimed that when the Republic was established in 1918, unfortunately, it was forgotten to repeal the KWEG, which was only intended for wartime use, and Dollfuss took advantage of this oversight in cold blood. This contradicts the historical evidence that the KWEG was by no means forgotten in 1918, but was actively applied by the state government in 1918/1919 and confirmed in 1920 in order to enact regulations “by the shortest route”.

Individual evidence

↑ Law of July 24, 1917, with which the government is authorized to make the necessary dispositions in the economic field on the occasion of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the state of war, RGBl. No. 307/1917

↑ Imperial decree with which the government is empowered to make the necessary dispositions in the economic field on the occasion of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the state of war RGBl. No. 274/1914

^ Stenographic minutes of the Constituent National Assembly for German Austria, 2nd session, March 5, 1919, p. 21 f.

↑ Constitutional Law, regarding the transition to the federal constitution, Federal Law Gazette No. 2/1920

↑ Commentary on Art. 18 Para. 2 B-VG; Kelsen / Fröhlich / Merkl 1922, p. 86.

↑ Ordinance of the Federal Minister of Justice in agreement with the Federal Minister of Finance of October 1, 1932 on the enforcement of the liabilities listed in the 7th Credit-Anstalts Act ( Federal Law Gazette No. 415 from 1931), Federal Law Gazette No. 303/1932 ; see. Tálos / Manoschek 1988, p. 37 ff.